A joint experimental and numerical study of mechanisms associated to instability of partial cavitation on two-dimensional hydrofoil

The present work was carried out in the scope of a numerical-experimental collaborative research program, whose main objective is to understand the mechanisms of instabilities in partial cavitating flow. Experiments were conducted in the configuration of a rectangular foil located in a cavitation tunnel. Partial cavitation was investigated by multipoint wall-pressure measurements together with lift and drag measurements and numerical videos. The computations were conducted on two-dimensional hydrofoil section and are based on a single fluid model of cavitation: the liquid/vapor mixture is considered as a homogeneous fluid whose composition is regulated by a barotropic state law. The algorithm of resolution is derived from the SIMPLE approach, modified to take into account the high compressibility of the medium. Several physical features were pointed out by this joint approach. Particularly two distinct cavity self-oscillation dynamics characterized by two different frequencies (dynamics 1 and dynamics 2) were obtained experimentally and numerically at the angles of incidence of 6 degrees and 8 degrees. In both cases, the reentrant jet was found to be mainly responsible for the cavity breakdown. Dynamics 2 corresponds to the "classical" cavity breakdown and resulting cloud cavitation. A more complex flow pattern was evidenced for dynamics 1. In this case the growth/breakdown cycle of the cavity was observed at a lower Strouhal number (similar to 0.07/0.09) than dynamics 2 (similar to 0.3). Moreover, the mechanism is composed of two successive steps: (i) an interaction between the reentrant jet and the cavity interface in the closure region leading to the periodic shedding of secondary cavitation clouds before the main cloud detachment occurs, and (ii) a shock wave induced by the collapse of the main cloud, which influences the growth of the residual cavity. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.